The Remarkable Life of the Skin

"In recent years we have been delighted and informed by books that provide a very different view on the human body. Giulia Edwards gave us the best-selling Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ . Monty Lyman has provided a wonderful addition to this genre. A dermatologist himself, his mission in The Remarkable Life of Skin: An Intimate Journey Across Our Surface is to help us understand and appreciate this the largest human organ of all. He has written a compelling account of this most overlooked, and in many respects mysterious, part of ourselves. It is a book packed with information, entertaining and humane. He explains the structure and function of the skin. How it develops, how it is affected by diet, ageing, our environment, and our own mental and physical situation. As we peel back the skin, we are introduced to a remarkable and complex landscape: its various layers and their functions, the subtle responses of a plethora of specialist structures, the chemistry and immunology, the ecosystem of micro-organisms that protects and sometimes assault us. “As we peel back the skin, we are introduced to a remarkable and complex landscape” The structure of the book makes it an effortless read. We are presented with disorders and diseases that could make anyone’s skin crawl or else set off a sympathetic itch or scratch. So it is fitting that the book explains those reactions, too! It explains how our sense of touch is organised, from pain to a lover’s caress. He discusses the role of UV and sunlight, a delicate balance between sunlight’s life-giving properties and its potential to wreak havoc. He takes us through the process by which ultra violet radiation leaves a trail of DNA destruction in its wake, explaining that sun exposure is responsible for epidemic levels of disease in many parts of the world. Whilst warning of the dangers, he also beautifully describes the processes by which the skin repairs damage in all its forms, minute by minute. Here is a story that combines fascinating clinical insights with biology, psychology , sociology, anthropology and history. It is replete with stories about how the skin has featured in our history and culture, how it has served to identify and segregate. You will not be able to see yourself in quite the same way again."